1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system of modular office furniture and accessories which combine to provide versatility in design and function for a wide variety of office arrangements.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to hang office accessories on a wall.
Tackboards, e.g., bulletin boards made of sheets of cork or compressed paper, are commonly found attached to walls in offices, as are hanging markerboards (blackboards, whiteboards), shelves, lights, clocks, etc. Representative prior art showing same include Chervenak, U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,507 (cabinets), Laughon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,913 (shelves), Rellinger et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,477 (whiteboards), and Nagamitsu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,315 (markerboards). The accessories of Chervenak, Laughon et al. and Rellinger et al. merely hang on hooks or the equivalent. Nagamitsu et al. provide a single writing board for rolling, parallel movement along the wall in front of cabinets.
Wire management has been a subject of inventive endeavor for some time.
Routing wires or cables through channels formed in furniture components is well known, as is covering the slots running along the channels with flexible materials. Propst et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,629 show a wire manager including a brush covering a slot between a wire housing channel and a work surface attached thereto. Wires may exit at any point along its length in order to minimize the distance between power or communication outlets and their associated utility devices on said work surface, thereby minimizing cable clutter. Fortsch U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,896 discloses a flexible flap covering an entrance to a wire manager channel attached to the underside of a work surface. Wires exiting along its length are held in place by being pinched. Frattini, U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,761 discloses a flexible flap covering an entrance to a wire manager channel formed in at least one of the legs of a table. Ryburg et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,500 disclose wire managing channels within an integrated work station for servicing computer-related components attached thereto. The work station, which is movable around a floor as a unit, comprises a computer-housing panel, a monitor mounted on the panel, a work surface pivotally cantilevered on a horizontal beam extending from the panel, and the computer-related components. The manner of providing power and communication cables to the work station is not disclosed. Ryburg et al. provide for limited movement of their monitor and work surface relative to the panel in order to afford minor adjustments for comfort of the user. Service for removable peripherals is not provided. Hellwig et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,928 disclose a non-rotatable work surface adjustably secured along a partition. Wire managing channels are attached to the work surface with the wires and/or cables outside the channels laying on the floor. Each of these prior art patents incorporate their wire managers into the work surface structure where it is fixed and thereby of localized utility.
Bates U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,137 and Kelley et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,318 provide wire and cable management raceways fixed to temporary walls or partitions. Bates hinges a service access panel to his raceway, said panel being latched with hook and loop-type fasteners (such as VELCRO.TM. brand fasteners), and Kelley et al. snap-fit an access service panel to their raceway, the service panels allowing access to the raceways. The service panels cover the wires and cables but do not appear to provide any egress for them.
Many prior patents show a pedestal or pedestal-like structure for supporting a work surface. Most are nothing more than a framework resting on a leg. Examples include patents to Pruyser U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,748, Ball U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,791, Ryburg et al. supra, Greshem et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,952, Gresham et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,033, Hellwig et al. supra, and Johnson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,179. None of these patents permit rotation of the work surface about the supporting pedestal.
Carr U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,758, and Carpinella U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,700, show a pedestal grommet and a pedestal, to provide electrical services to work surfaces, but both appear to be independent structures, separate from and unattached to their associated work surfaces.
A few examples exist of work surfaces, and thereby the work area, being adjustable linearly along a wall. Ball, supra, divides an area by partitions including a framework comprising a portable rail along which work surface supports are adjustably attached. Once their locations are selected, the supports are bolted to the rail. Work surfaces are then bolted to the supports. Ryburg et al. supra, slidably connects a cantilevered beam to a movable hardware/support panel. A work surface is rotatably connected at its near end to said beam for angular adjustments relative to said panel. Movement of the work surface is limited by the necessity to remain in close proximity to a monitor which is also slidably connected to said panel. Hellwig et al. supra, releasably locks a work surface along and to a partitioning panel via a connecting section. The work surfaces do not rotate, and wire management is provides solely through channels formed in the table support structure from cables apparently openly tranversing the floor.
While the above-mentioned patents provide benefits within their own isolated spheres of invention, they do not cooperate to produce the additional benefits produced by the present invention as described in detail below.